


Mortimer

by Aargle_Baargle



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Children, Domestic Fluff, Family Fluff, Gift Exchange, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-09-28 02:38:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17174276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aargle_Baargle/pseuds/Aargle_Baargle
Summary: The Ackerman-Jaeger family gets a new member.





	Mortimer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [paradoxicallysimplistic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/paradoxicallysimplistic/gifts).
  * Inspired by [The Alpha and his Omega](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6218632) by [paradoxicallysimplistic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/paradoxicallysimplistic/pseuds/paradoxicallysimplistic). 



> For Paradox. Happy 2019 and thank you for being part of our writing community! I hope you enjoy this little piece of domestic fluff that was inspired by your original characters.

Levi knew that fucking turtle had been a mistake.

He should have followed his gut instincts and said no when they were at the pet store getting food for Captain three weeks ago (and hell if he knew why the twins named that mangy cat after a military rank). But Eren and the kids were enamored with the beady-eyed reptile and in a moment of weakness, he gave his consent for Eren to surprise them with it on Christmas morning, thus adding a turtle to the menagerie in their household.

Well, to Levi it was a menagerie. A cat, a turtle, four kids, and his green-eyed brat.

He’d managed to come home from work early that day, one of those rare post-holiday afternoons when most of the company was either still on vacation or simply slacking off, thus allowing him to do his paperwork in peace and finish in record time. Eyebrows had been nagging him to not be a workaholic, to spend time with his family, so this was as good a time as any to appease the blond bastard.

But as he stood in the hallway outside the kitchen, watching with a sort of fascinated horror, Levi decided that working late might have been preferable to the events unfolding in his home. Eren could probably detect his presence if he tried, but Levi had clamped down on his scent pretty strongly and his omega was busy with the mayhem currently in progress.

They had set up a twenty-gallon aquarium for the turtle on one side of the kitchen since that room got the most sunlight in the house. It also had the advantage of being near the sink so they could easily change out the water in the tank periodically. Given the fact that Carla and Isabel wanted to ‘help’ (he used the term loosely), it was safer to have everything located where a spill could easily be cleaned up, rather than destroying perfectly good carpeting or hardwoods.

“What can we feed Mortimer today?” Isabel asked, her head in the refrigerator as she rummaged about. “How about this?” She pulled a bag of celery from the crisper drawer and swung it as she spun away from the door, clipping her younger brother Farlan and almost knocking him over in the process. 

Farlan staggered back and grabbed his shoulder, tears welling up in his four-year-old eyes. “Owwww! Izzy that hurt!” 

“Then don’t stand in the way. And quit being a baby.”

“I’m _not_ a baby!”

“Are too.”

 _“Am not!”_ he screeched. “ Mommy, Izzy hit me! Tell her I’m not a baby!”

Eren squatted down to inspect the red mark near the top of Farlan’s arm. From Levi’s vantage point, it looked like it would possibly bruise, but nothing more serious. 

“Farlan, you’re not a baby, you’re a big strong boy,” Eren began, his tone of voice meant to soothe. “I’m sure Izzy didn’t mean to hurt you, she’s just excited to feed Mortimer.” He leaned in to give Farlan a cuddle before looking over his shoulder at their oldest daughter whose attention had returned to the refrigerator. “Izzy, apologize to Farlan and then close the fridge”—the door slammed hard enough to rattle bottles inside—“quietly, please?”

Isabel mumbled a decidedly non-heartfelt _“sorry”_ at her brother before taking the celery to the counter for Eren to cut up. At age seven, she and her twin were old enough to help in the kitchen but neither Levi nor Eren wanted them playing with the knives yet.

Carla, the less ebullient of the twins (though no less eager), was busy filling a pitcher of water from the tap. “We should only change this much, and not all at once, right Mommy?”

Crisis with Farlan averted, Eren moved to the sink and and checked the water level in the pitcher before breaking off ribs of celery, rinsing them clean once Carla had vacated the sink. “That’s exactly right, so we don’t shock Mortimer; very good remembering, Carla!”

Carla flushed pink under the praise and Levi felt his own lips curl into a smile. Her more serious demeanor was often overshadowed by Isabel's vivacity, but Carla was generally the more observant of the two, often recalling facts and details that even he and Eren sometimes forgot.

Still, she was only seven, with a seven-year-old’s balance and coordination, and the sloshing of water over the sides of the pitcher as she made her way to the aquarium caused Levi’s fingers to twitch with the need to grab a towel.

“I can’t pour the water, Mommy, Mortimer’s in the way.”

“Just pour it on the other side of the tank,” Eren suggested, hands busy washing celery under the tap.

Carla started to pour, but Mortimer darted forward and she pulled back with a shriek, more water splashing onto the floor. “I can’t, Mommy! He’s moving around!”

Tendrils of exasperation began creeping into Eren’s scent, and the rise and fall of his shoulders conveyed an unheard sigh to Levi, but his expression was calm and attentive as he turned from the sink. “Okay, here. Let’s take him out of the tank and let him roam a bit while you change the water.” He lifted the turtle out and set him on the floor; Levi was certain he actually _felt_ his own blood pressure climb several notches.

“Now don’t forget to pour it slowly so you don’t stir up the stuff on the bottom of the tank,” Eren was instructing Carla, when Chase, the youngest, crawled across the floor from where he’d been sitting and pulled himself up on the omega’s trouser leg.

“Mommy! I hungwy!”

Eren reached down to ruffle his hair. “You are, huh? Well how about a snack then? What about some strawberries, and uhh”—he opened the fridge and pulled out a small container—”yogurt? Sound good?”

“Yoguh’, yay!” Chase toddled away from Eren, Mortimer having caught his attention, but the fifteen-month-old slipped on a patch of wet floor. Down he went, clunking his elbow in the process. Levi could tell he was okay, but there was a moment of silence as Chase looked around to see who had noticed his fall. When he caught Isabel’s eye, his face screwed up and he let out a wail.

“Chase fell,” Isabel supplied blandly.

Eren scooped him up and checked for injuries. “Hey buddy, it’s okay. It was just a slip and nothing’s broken. Here, let me kiss it and make it better.” He kissed Chase’s elbow and propped the toddler on his hip as he grabbed some paper towels, handing them to Isabel. “Can you wipe that up for me, Izzy? Thanks.”

Farlan exited the pantry with a plastic jar of peanut butter cradled in one arm and a box of crackers in the other. “Mommy, I want a snack too.”

Spill wiped and towels deposited in the trash, Isabel sidled up next to Eren at the counter. “Can I help make Mortimer’s snacks?”

Farlan piped up from Eren’s other side. “No, Izzy, you touched the floor and then didn’t wash your hands! I’m telling Daddy when he gets home.” Levi's grin was smug, but he didn’t care. At least one of his children was on the right track to cleanliness.

Isabel stuck her tongue out at Farlan. “Shut up; you’re a baby _and_ a copycat.” 

“Am not!” he protested.

“Are too, you’re a snack copycat. Sna~ack copycat~~” she taunted him in a singsong voice before turning back to Eren. “If I wash, can I help give Mortimer his snack?”

The threads of stress in Eren’s scent grew stronger. “Yes, wash your hands first,” he said as he put the celery aside and cut up some strawberries for Chase, adding under his breath, “even though the floor is clean enough to eat off of.”

Levi’s alpha hearing easily picked up the muttered aside and he suppressed a huff of indignation. It was one of the few sticking points between them, their differing standards of what passed for cleanliness in a home. Levi’s was far more strict, his childhood experiences shaping his disgust for all things unhygienic and less than spotless. Eren, on the other hand, seemed to have no problem with clutter and mess, believing it to be the sign of a home well lived in.

Speaking of well lived in, the kitchen appeared to be getting more so with each passing moment. Eren had put Chase in his high chair with some of the berries, the yogurt, and a plastic toddler spoon, whereupon Chase promptly dug into the container with his fingers and then shoved a berry into his mouth, smearing yogurt on his face and then wiping his hand on his shirt. He was content with his snack until Captain wandered into the room, nose and tail both twitching in investigation. With a loud _“kitteh!”_ the toddler immediately began squirming to free himself from the chair, slithering under the attached tray and onto the floor, the jostling of his movements knocking the food there as well, as he crawled over to Captain who enthusiastically licked the yogurt from his face eliciting childish squeals and giggles. 

Levi shuddered in revulsion at the thought that the cat was licking his son’s face with the same tongue it used to clean itself. He wasn’t sure how much more of this he could stand to watch.

Isabel finished washing her hands, grabbed two sticks of celery, and looked around for Mortimer. He had almost reached the dining room doorway when she swooped down and snatched him up in one hand, holding his top and bottom shells like a sandwich as she seated herself cross-legged on the floor. She shoved a celery stalk at his beak and the turtle promptly retracted his head and legs into his shell in self-preservation. _‘Smart animal,’_ thought Levi.

Meanwhile, Farlan had managed to open the peanut butter but the sleeve of crackers he pulled from the box was proving to be a challenge. Or it was, until the plastic rent under his fingers and crackers were strewn across the countertop. “Mommy, I can’t reach all the crackers!”

Eren had moved back to the tank to help Carla remove some of the water and gave him a distracted, “Just use the ones you can reach for now,” whereupon Farlan succeeded in making a messy snack of broken crackers and peanut butter sticking to practically everything _but_ said crackers.

Having cleaned Chase’s face, Captain leaped onto the countertop to investigate the newest aroma, only to discover a four-year-old with sticky hands and something he had no interest in eating. He did pause to nibble on one of the dry crackers, though, and that was his undoing as Farlan caught him by the collar in one hand and around the torso with the other, mashing peanut butter into his fur as he attempted to force feed him more. The ensuing struggle left both of them worse for wear. Captain, who at this point resembled a calico with the amount of peanut butter smeared into his black and white fur, yowled in protest and wriggled himself free, pushing off Farlan’s chest with powerful hind legs to land on the floor and retreat under Chase’s chair, tail whipping back and forth furiously. Farlan had been shoved backwards from the kick and clutched at his chest as he lost his balance and fell on his rump, crying loudly.

Eren had turned at the sound of the struggle, dropping the pitcher he’d been holding into the tank, undoing his and Carla’s careful efforts. His scent spiked with distress and Levi decided it was time to put an end to the shenanigans, releasing the hold he’d kept on his own scent and stepping into the kitchen.

“What. the _hell. is GOING ON HERE?!”_

That tone of voice brooked no argument in the Ackerman-Jaeger household and Levi’s words, combined with the sudden acrid odor of displeasure souring the air, made everyone freeze in a bizarre tableau of silent chaos.

Captain, however, must’ve realized that the alpha’s appearance meant he would be safe from the little humans in the house. With a loud _'mrowr!'_ , he left his spot under the chair and made a beeline for Levi, weaving his way in and out and around Levi’s legs. This would’ve been fine, except for the fact that Captain was wearing a quarter jar’s worth of peanut butter in his fur and was now creating a band of tan around the bottom third of Levi’s trousers.

“Levi!” Eren’s smile was brittle around the edges. “You’re, uhh...home early!”

Levi arched one delicate eyebrow as he surveyed the damage. “You don't say. Brat, what the hell happened here?!” He turned to the kids who were still staring at him with wide eyes. “This is _not_ how things are done in this household. Clean this mess up, **now**.”

He began barking orders like a drill sergeant. “Isabel. Put that damned thing back in its tank and wash your hands. Then take Chase to the bathroom, wash his face and hands, and change his clothes; put the dirty ones in the hamper, _not_ on the bathroom floor.” He paused for any questions and when there were none, he turned to the other two children. 

“Carla. Get a towel and clean up these spills, then go change your clothes as well. Farlan. Wash your hands and then put the peanut butter and crackers back in the pantry; then go to the bathroom and wash the rest of yourself off and change your clothes also. Make sure you put everything in the hamper” He gave them each a stern look. “I don’t want to hear any squabbling over the bathroom and I’d better not find _anything_ on the floor when I come up there. After you’re all done, go play in your rooms while I have a talk with Mommy.”

He looked down at the cat still rubbing itself against his trousers. “Eren, get this damned furball off my legs and lock him somewhere until we can give him a bath.”

Everyone scrambled to obey. The children headed upstairs and Eren put Captain in the mud room, returning just as Levi was trying to wipe the peanut butter from his trouser legs and muttering under his breath.

“ _Tch._ ‘Get a turtle,’ they said. ‘It won’t make a mess,’ they said. Fucking bullshit pet store lying motherfuckers.”

“Language, Levi,” Eren admonished. “The kids were just getting him a snack. Besides, technically the pet store was correct. Mortimer was the only one not making a mess.” He giggled at his own words.

Levi gave him his best _‘are you shitting me’_ glare. “It’s a turtle, Eren. It doesn’t need fucking hors d’oeuvres.”

Eren chuckled more softly as he wrapped his arms around the alpha. “Oh, Levi, lighten up. Yeah, it was crazy, and I got stressed out, but there was really no harm done. And these times won’t last forever. Someday, they’ll all be grown and moved away and you’ll look back and remember today and laugh about it.”

Levi didn’t want to think that far ahead. “Yeah, well, today isn’t that day. That damned cat ruined my pants.”

“We’ll get you some new ones.” The omega put an arm around Levi’s shoulders and started nudging him toward the bedroom, his scent placating yet laced with the barest hint of something underneath. “C’mon, Alpha, let’s get you out of those messy clothes.”

Levi side-eyed his husband as he let himself be pulled along. “What’s that, Jaeger? You just want to get into my pants, is that it?”

Eren clutched his free hand to his chest, eyes wide as saucers. “Levi, no! I would never!”

“Yeah, right,” Levi smirked, letting attraction and arousal seep into his own scent in response. “That’s why we have four brats running around here.”

“No, that’s because **you** always want to get into **my** pants.”

 _“Tch._ You have a point. But I don’t hear you complaining when I do.”

Levi studied his omega. Eren had filled out with age and motherhood, but he was still as beautiful and sexy as ever, and Levi felt a familiar stirring as they crossed the threshold into their bedroom.

“When’s the last time Eyebrows and Petra babysat for us for the weekend?”

Eren paused to close the door. “Hmm, I think it’s been several months now.”

Levi crossed to the en suite bathroom, using both hands to hike up his trouser legs and avoid smearing peanut butter on the plush carpeting. “I’d say he’s due. Let’s call them and see if they’ll sit for us this weekend or next. In the meantime, help me get these off.”

“What’s that, Alpha?” Eren said as he came up behind Levi and wrapped his arms around his waist to rest on his belt buckle. “You want me to help you get off?”

Levi stiffened in more ways than one, the instinctive rumble in his chest low and rough. “Don’t push your luck, Brat. Not unless you want the kids to _really_ know what we get up to.” He reached behind himself with one hand to grasp Eren but the omega danced out of his reach, laughing.

“On second thought, let’s just get you cleaned up.”

Levi let Eren help him out of his trousers and exit the bathroom so that he could get a shower without any further distractions. He stood under the frigid spray letting needles of ice water wash away his arousal, before turning the tap the other way so the hot water could do the same to the day’s stresses.

He hated to admit it, but Eren had a point. The kids would eventually grow up and move out on their own. And in its own disgusting way, the scene in the kitchen _had_ been amusing. And cute. 

And he probably _would_ miss those times someday.

Dammit, his green-eyed brat was turning him sappy. Still, all things considered, it wasn’t a bad state to be in. 

_Not_ that he’d tell Eren any of that.

He had no idea how long he spent in the shower, but eventually the hot water ran out. He idly debated getting a tankless water heating system installed in the house as he dried himself briskly; not running out of hot water would come in handy with four kids and two adults in the house.

Wrapping the towel loosely around his hips, he stepped into the bedroom, only to stop dead at the sight of Eren lounging naked on the bed, wearing nothing but an absolutely ridiculous santa hat and dangling something— _mistletoe?_ —over his crotch. Levi’s nostrils flared at the unmistakable readiness he detected.

“Jaeger, what the hell’s going on?”

Eren set aside the sprig of mistletoe, doing nothing to hide his state of undress. In fact, he sprawled further on the bed and gave Levi a come-hither look. “I called Petra and explained we had an urgent situation on our hands. She and Erwin came and picked up the kids. Then I got Captain cleaned up while you were still in the shower.”

Levi stalked toward him, crawling onto the bed and hovering over Eren’s body, elbows bracketing his head as their scents intertwined lazily and heat began to spiral between them. “What about the rest of the mess?”

Eren looped one arm around Levi’s neck and reached with the other to pull the towel from between them as he hooked his ankle on the back of Levi's knee. “There’s plenty of time to worry about that later, Alpha, don’t you think?” he asked, punctuating the question with kisses along his jawline.

Levi decided that maybe the turtle wasn’t a complete mistake after all.


End file.
